Tag Archives: Small Times Magazine

July 23, 2009: Nanosys Inc. and UK-based Nanoco Technologies are settling a lawsuit brought by the US firm alleging infringement of five patents involving quantum dot technology. The resolution will result in Nanoco terminating its US business for its core-shell quantum dots, sold through Sigma-Aldrich under the name “Lumidots,” though the company admits neither the patents’ validity nor any infringement thereof. Additional settlement terms were not disclosed.

Nanosys says its quantum dot technology is currently being used in process-ready components for solid state lighting, solar power and electronic display systems, and that the firm has exclusive rights to >700 patents and applications covering “fundamental aspects of” its materials technology, including the quantum dots.

July 22, 2009: Scientists at the U. of Michigan have devised a microfluidic device incorporating a pneumatic system that requires no electromechanical valves, instead powered by sound waves. And they show how it works using the school’s fight song.

To use a typical “lab-on-a-chip” microfluidic device in an experiment (e.g. test for germs, contaminants, gases, etc.), tiny drops of fluid are moved, mixed, and split by air hoses, valves, and electrical connections to a computer. But the ultimate goal of the tiny device is its flexibility — “You’d really like to see something the size of an iPhone that you could sneeze onto and it would tell you if you have the flu,” notes Mark Burns, professor and chair of U-M’s Department of Chemical Engineering and prof. in biomedical engineering, in a statement. “What hasn’t been developed for such a small system is the pneumatics — the mechanisms for moving chemicals and samples around on the device.”

In their work, published online by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, describe how they use a pneumatic system that replaces the hoses, valves, and electrical connections with resonance cavities, tubes that amplify particular sounds. The cavities are connected on one end to the microfluidic channels, and the other end to a speaker connected to a computer. Notes or chords are generated and amplified through the cavities, and the sound waves push air pressure through holes in the cavities to the channels, which manipulates the droplets.

From the PNAS abstract:

The device consists of a bank of 4 uniquely tuned resonance cavities (404, 484, 532, and 654 Hz), each being responsible for the actuation of a single droplet, 4 identical flow-rectification structures, and a single acoustic source. Cavities selectively amplify resonant tones in the input signal, resulting in highly elevated local cavity pressures. Fluidic-rectification structures then serve to convert the elevated oscillating cavity pressures into unidirectional flows. The resulting pressure gradients, which are used to manipulate fluids in a microdevice, are tunable over a range of ≈0–200 Pa with a control resolution of 10 Pa.

Essentially the resonance cavities amplify specific tones and convert them into air pressure; if one note is played, one droplet moves, a three-note chord moves three droplets, etc., explained U-M chemical engineering doctoral student Sean Langelier. The cavities don’t communicate with each other, so strength of individual notes can be varied in strength to move drops faster or slower, he said.

The new system is still external to the chip, but the researchers are working to shrink it to integrate on a microfluidic device. Possible application, for example, is the aforementioned smartphone-sized home flu test.

  • Watch a video of the sound moving, splitting, and sorting droplets.

  • Watch a video of droplets moving through a microfluidic device, to the tune of U-M’s fight song “Hail to the Victor.” (A computer-tonal version, not the collegiate football band grand spectacular…use your imagination)

    • July 21, 2009: Representatives CEA-Leti, STMicroelectronics, IBM, and officials from across France have gathered to officially launch the Nano2012 R&D program, a public/private program led by ST to create advanced R&D clusters to develop new semiconductor technologies.

    The five-year Nano2012 program (which actually began Jan. 2008, and runs through Dec. 2012) focuses on technology platform development for low-power and application-specific CMOS technologies. “Value-added application-specific derivative technologies are key differentiators to the standard CMOS technology and an important goal of Nano2012 is for the R&D cluster based in Grenoble-Isere to continue as a world leader in this field,” they say in a statement.

    Nano2012 joins other European cooperative programs including CATRENE to bolster Europe’s electronics industry “by providing competitive access to the most advanced CMOS technologies from 32nm down to 22nm,” the groups said in a statement. French public authorities are contributing €457M. Besides LETI, ST, and IBM, partners include the French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control (INRIA), National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), universities, and many small- and medium- sized enterprise partners.

    Since the program began, ST and IBM have swapped researchers between ST’s Crolles site, IBM’s facility in East Fishkill, NY, and included CEA-LETI in projects including 32nm and 28nm CMOS processes, 45nm RF derivative technology for wireless, and 65nm nonvolatile memory derivative technology for auto and smart-card applications.

    The partners are longtime collaborators. ST and CEA-LETI set up the Crolles site in 1992; in July 2007 ST joined the IBM-led Joint Development Alliance and IBM paired up with ST in Crolles for application-specific derivative CMOS technologies. IBM and CEA-LETI are also collaborating on process R&D down to 22nm and beyond.

    July 20, 2009: Just to clear things up — Cyclone Power Technologies says its robotic technology “is strictly vegetarian.”

    In what is either a bizarre rumor being quashed — or perhaps a clever marketing ploy — Cyclone cites big news sites including The Register, Fox, and CNet that had handwringingly reported about the company’s Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot, a DARPA-funded a “beta biomass engine system” for which it just completed first stage, that requires no refueling, at least by conventional means. To clear the air, Cyclone sent out a PR explaining that the “EATR” gobbles up “small plant-based items” such as twigs, grass clippings and wood chips. The technology involves consuming the fuel sources ranging from biodiesel to syngas and even solar through a “compact heat-regenerative process.”

    The list does not, it stresses, include “human bodies” as has been suggested (though it seems most of the offending stories have been modified or rebutted) “Desecration of the dead is a war crime under Article 15 of the Geneva Conventions, and is certainly not something sanctioned by DARPA, Cyclone or RTI,” the company points out in a statement.

    “We are focused on demonstrating that our engines can create usable, green power from plentiful, renewable plant matter,” reassured Cyclone CEO Harry Schoell, adding that “the commercial applications alone for this earth-friendly energy solution are enormous.”

    FEI uncrates new TEM


    July 21, 2009

    July 20, 2009: FEI Corp. has unveiled a new scanning/transmission electron microscope (S/TEM) that it says “dramatically increases productivity” for analysis work in applications such as semiconductor manufacturing and materials analysis.

    The Tecnai Osiris 200kV tool includes the company’s new ChemiSTEM echnology that combines a X-FEG high-brightness electron source and a new “Super-X” energy dispersive x-ray (EDX) signal detection system based on “silicon drift detector” technology, to make EDX elemental mapping faster by a factor of 50×, and reduce the time for large field-of-view elemental mapping from hours to minutes. A new “SmartCam” remote control interface offers remote guidance in multiuser or industrial facilities. MultiLoader sample handling reduces thermal equilibration time after sample exchanges by 10× with “commensurate improvements in time-to-data,” and a new FS-1 electron energy loss spectrometer improves electron energy loss spectrometry (EELS) speed and sensitivity.

    “The continuing decrease in device sizes and proliferation of new materials in semiconductor manufacturing, and the appearance of more samples with unknown composition in multi-user research facilities, drives the need for an S/TEM providing the ease-of-use of EDX analytics with an elemental mapping speed comparable to STEM imaging,” said Tony Edwards, FEI’s SVP of market divisions, in a statement.


    FEI’s Tecnai Osiris. (Source:FEI)

    July 17, 2009: Agilent Technologies has launched a new version of its TestWorks software for its nanoindentation and tensile instruments to offer better imaging capabilities, survey scanning, and a new test method development environment.

    Key specs of the software, now rebranded as “NanoSuite 5.0”:

    • New test method development offers easier, more user-friendly protocol scripting
    • Enhanced imaging capabilities: profile cross-sectional imaging, real-time adjustment of scanning parameters, polynomial distortion or leveling correction, plane-fit leveling
    • Survey scanning option allows scanning of areas up to 500μm × 500μm (flatness of travel 0.1%/100μm)
    • Experiment data analysis using the most powerful, comprehensive software

      “NanoSuite 5.0 immediately extends the impressive utility of Agilent G200 and G300 Nano Indenters, as well as that of Agilent T150 universal testing machines,” said Jeff Jones, operations manager for Agilent’s nanoinstrumentation facility in Chandler, AA, in a statement.

    July 16, 2009: In sharp contrast to the lousy near-term outlook for the broad electronics industry, particularly semiconductors and wireless, the market for MEMS used in consumer electronics is actually seen growing more than 6% this year, according to statistics from iSuppli.

    Global and consumer wireless MEMS revenue will total $1.24B, up from $1.17B last year. By comparison, semiconductor sales are expected to plunge -23% this year; wireless equipment will be down -13.1%; and the overall consumer electronics sector will dip -8.2%.

    Poking around the numbers, MEMS gyroscopes are seen rising 18% CAGR over the next five years (2008-2013), finding demand in products like controllers for video game consoles, notes Jérémie Bouchaud, iSuppli’s director and principal analyst for MEMS, in a statement. “As the market for multi-axis gyroscopes develops and these components hit target insertion prices, the market will accelerate for gaming and will pick up for cell phone camera image stabilization as early as 2010.”


    Consumer and mobile MEMS market by application. (Source: iSuppli)
    CLICK HERE to view larger image

    On the wireless side, MEMS accelerometers for mobile phones are the growth drivers, due to their role in user interfaces for “smart phones” — though 1/3 of all mobile phones shipped in 2010 will have them, up from 1/5 this year. Features they support include screen-orientation adjustment (i.e. turn the handset to the side and the screen reorients to proper display angles), which are spreading to other handsets as well. Also seeing fast growth are bulk acoustic wave (BAW) filters, used in CDMA and UMTS phones that saw >50% unit growth in 1H09.

    Also notable, reports iSuppli, is the first annual drop in sales for MEMS microphones market which will happen this year, though sales will bounce back to double-digit growth in 2010. Other MEMS devices they deem worthy of note include RF MEMS switches and varactors, which should go into production for cell phones by 1Q10.

    The sparkling growth has a downside, though — rapid price erosion. Accelerometers in cell phones currently sell for 25%-30% less than they did a year ago, and those suppliers who are most aggressive on pricing are taking market share.

    From the report abstract:

    While MEMS products like DLP chips that were already identified as losing ground continue in this fashion, the MEMS domain has been more than compensated by the ascendancy of accelerometers, microphones, and even gyroscopes.
    A number of factors drive the success of MEMS sensors — not least of which is the desire for intuitive motion-based interfaces in mobile devices.
    In addition, MEMS sensors earn plaudits for enabling the practical requirement of taking blur-free pictures in cameras and camera phones that — through no fault of their own — suffer from the pixel “one-upmanship” of the manufacturers; and finally, for providing rich and realistic gaming experiences.


    Global revenues for consumer, mobile MEMS devices, 2006-2013. (    Source: iSuppli)
    CLICK HERE to view larger image

    July 15, 2009: Semiconductors are at the heart of what is deemed “nanotech” in the electronics manufacturing world, having been working at the submicron level for years. Some areas in this sector are right in Small Times‘ wheelhouse: MEMS is a prime example, and analytical equipment also is a broad area of overlap. We generally tend to let sister publication Solid State Technology do the technical heavy-lifting for leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing discussions, though.

    But a presentation from lithography tool supplier ASML yesterday at the annual SEMICON West in San Francisco, CA, caught our ear, because it crosses both areas. The company’s concept of “holistic lithography” is taking shape with two new products and a heavily customized package, one of which is a new illumination technology that uses a programmable array of thousands of micromirrors (instead of the traditional illuminator and diffraction optical element) to condition and shape the light with greater flexibility to create increasingly complex patterns. The result is a much more flexible and powerful way to shape light in multiple different complex ways to improve device patterning, improve process windows, and extend use of immersion lithography tools as far as possible until the long-awaited extreme ultraviolet (EUV) tools are ready for volume manufacturing.

    So there you have it — extending the current leading-edge semiconductor technology capabilities, brought to you by MEMS devices. — J.M.

    July 13, 2009: EV Group has unveiled a next-generation UV-nanoimprint lithography (NIL) step and repeat system eyeing use for microelectronics applications including optics/image sensors, lens arrays, and certain R&D nanoelectronics processes.

    The EFG 770 Gen II NIL stepper offers vacuum imprinting (<50 mbar) on a spun-on polymer layer to eliminate defect issues caused by trapped air bubbles, which results in better pattern fidelity. Optical sensors align the stamp and wafer into parallelism for contact-free wedge compensation. A noncontact bearing system reduces particle contamination associated with chuck movement. System accuracy is within ±500nm, with <35nm overlay accuracy demonstrated on a test setup system. Load-cell measurement of embossing/de-embossing force improves imprint uniformity and process reliability, allowing for real-time in-situ characterization of resists (it can handle viscosities from 1 to several 1000mPas) and anti-sticking layers. Substrate loading/ unloading is fully automated from FOUP or SMIF pods; automated template loading is standard on all systems.

    A main market for UV-NIL is micro-optics, e.g., full-wafer lens micromolding of CMOS image sensors for wafer-level cameras. Using UV-NIL, a master can be replicated across the substrate to produce a full-wafer lens micromold, which offers significant yield and cost advantages vs. other mastering processes like micromachining, photoresist reflow, LIGA, and e-beam writing, the company explained. Other markets also show potential, micro-lens arrays, waveguides, ring resonators, and R&D nanoelectronics processes for dual damascene and contact holes.


    High-resolution features (70nm lines and 130nm space) imprinted on an EVG 770 (images from LETI/LTM) (Source: EV Group

    July 13, 2009: FEI has joined SEMATECH’s advanced metrology development program at the U. of Albany’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) to expand efforts to develop novel technologies to improve process control and yield for 45nm node and below manufacturing.

    Specifically, FEI and SEMATECH experts will collaborate to develop high-resolution capabilities of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis, with electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) and focused ion beam (FIB) technology to address critical needs in process development and defect analysis. These tools will provide the high resolution imaging and compositional data on the scale of a few nanometers. As part of the work FEI will contribute its wafer-to-TEM data equipment suite, at the core of which is its Titan TEM.

    “Utilizing the automated, high-throughput CLM+ TEM sample preparation solution, combined with FEI’s TEMLink lamella lift out system, SEMATECH will be able to produce a steady supply of high quality TEM lamella for its Titan TEM. Equipped with the new MultiLoader double-tilt sample holder, the Titan TEM achieves a level of unprecedented connectivity across system platforms enabling secure, reliable, and traceable sample transfer,” said Rudy Kellner, VP/GM of FEI’s electronics division, in a statement.

    Analytical TEM has historically been used for basic research in advanced materials development, but combined with EELS enables detailed information about physical structure, atomic arrangement, chemical bonding, density, and electronic behavior on a nanometer scale, resulting in a much more complete profile of each material.

    “The collaborative effort among world-class researchers and engineers from FEI, SEMATECH and CNSE, along with access to critical laboratory analytical equipment available within CNSE, form an important cornerstone in providing world-leading advanced metrology capabilities to our members,” added John Warlaumont, SEMATECH VP of technology.